


Expansion

by moon_opals



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon_opals/pseuds/moon_opals
Summary: "You found your mom."“Uh...no,” he said, shifting next to her on the windowsill edge. “My mom found us.”Gosalyn snorted. “It’s the same thing,” she said derisively. But there was no heat to her words. Just grief. She turned outward to the illuminated city. “You got her back.”He returned to his knees and sighed. “Yeah, yeah, we did.”--In the wake of "Let's Get Dangerous" Dewey tells Gosalyn a story.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Gosalyn Mallard
Comments: 14
Kudos: 149





	Expansion

**Author's Note:**

> Let's Get Dangerous got me feelings things. It was a really good episode, but I am ready to get to those MCDUCK SISTERS, HOLLA. *cough cough* 
> 
> Dewey and Gosalyn's friendship was something I didn't know I'd like so, so much. "Let me be your Webby." He was kind of an annoying brother to Gos, and she needed that in her life. I can't wait for her to realize how large her family is growing.

“You found your mom.” 

Uncle Scrooge suggested interdimensional may cause mild brain trauma, but Dewey didn’t think much on it. When he heard Gosalyn speak, he thought a gnat was in her ear. She was barely audible. His eyes skirted to her and saw her on the opposite end of the windowsill. Tiny, quiet and sullen, she buried her face in her knees, hoodie cowled her fiery mane of hair.

He swallowed. Huey was good at comforting others. Louie was good at words, though Dewey doubted anything Louie said could ease her pain. “Uh...no,” he said, shifting next to her on the windowsill edge. “My mom found us.”

Gosalyn snorted. “It’s the same thing,” she said derisively. But there was no heat to her words. Just grief. She turned outward to the illuminated city. “You got her back.”

He returned to his knees and sighed. “Yeah, yeah, we did.”

“How?”

“What?” He looked at her, confused. “What’d you mean?”

Her steep line of a grimace turned counter clockwise. “I’m sure there’s a story,” she leaned along the frame and stretched, “let’s hear it. Grandpa had his theories.”

“His theories?”

“Oh yeah,” she shrugged. “He had theories as to what happened, but he just expressed his condolences. He said your mom reminded him of an old professor of his.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” She leaned forward. “So, story?”

“Oh, right. Right! He cleared his throat. Deliberation over which interpretation was hard. So he chose the easies. “She crash landed in the front lawn.”

Gosalyn tilted her head. “Crash landed on the front lawn?”

Dewey nodded. “Wait,” he frowned, looking to the side, “it was lower down the hill. She crash landed, but when we got there to check the damage, the rocket was gone.”

“So, how’d she get there?”

“She took a joy ride in a rocket and crash landed on the moon. We kinda forgot about it." Dewey frowned, realizing how that sounded but didn't know how to defend himself. "We were really happy she was, you know, not dead."

"No, no, I get it." Gosalyn chuckled. "Your moms sounds adept at crash landing."

Dewey whined awkwardly. “Yeah, she isn’t that good,” he said. “She lost a leg in the first crash.”

Gosalyn winced. “Ouch,” she inhaled sharply. “Sorry, I didn’t mean -,”

“Nah, nah, she actually loves telling the story, and she should. It’s daring, dangerous and bold! She amputated her leg while chewing a single piece of black licorice oxygen giving gum!” He boasted with all the pride and admiration an almost twelve year old child could spare for his mother and much, much more.

“Whoa, gotta say, that’s impressive.” Her knees lowered, and she expelled a breath in a deep sigh. “How long did it take her to get back?”

“Ten years.”

Her smile was tight and didn’t reach her eyes. Her neck wheeled below where Drake and LP napped on the sofa. Their snores echoed against the walls. “Ten and a half years is a long time.” She slouched and swung her head back to Dewey. “That’s a really long time.”

“I know,” he replied softly. “I spent years wondering what my mom was doing, you know?” He rolled his shoulders. “I thought...for a while that she didn’t care about us. Uncle Donald -,”

“Who?”

“Oh, my dad. Mom’s twin brother.”

“Right, got it. Sorry for the interruption.”

“Nah, I get.” He blinked, frowning. “Where was I again?”

“You were worried your mom didn’t care about you and your brothers. You stopped Uncle Donald.”

Dewey thought, then smiled. “Right, right, Uncle Donald didn’t talk about her,” he continued. “Like I used to hate that. He’d just say she was gone or some other cryptic nonsense. It took me a long time to realize he was trying to protect us and him.”

Gosalyn nodded. The way she did suggested she understood the feeling all too well. “I asked Grandpa about my parents. My mom was his daughter, you know? His only kid, and my biological father, well, isn’t around. He talked about her sometimes. He had a few pictures but never much, and he never spoke about Grandma. Guess it hurt too much.”

“Yeah…”

“Yeah.”

He scratched his neck and inhaled so deeply his chest started to hurt. “Gosalyn, what I was going for is that my mom never gave up. She never stopped, even when she probably should’ve.” He laughed-scoffed thinly, pulling at the feathers at the nape of his neck. “She did everything in her power to get back to her family, and if your Grandpa loves you as much as my mom loves us -,”

“He does,” she said vehemently. He tone hardened, and her eyes squinted. “I never doubted that.”

“Good.” Dewey’s smile was so deep his eyelids crinkled. “Then that means Dr. Waddlemeyer is going to find a way back to you just like my mom did. He doesn’t seem like a duck to back down.”

“Actually, we’re geese.”

Dewey blushed. “Er...I mean...geese,” he recovered quickly. “He doesn’t seem like a goose to back down.”

Gosalyn laughed, a genuine laugh, loud and snorty. “He got knocked down a lot, being a scientist, but he never let it keep him down. He always got back up, like a superhero.” Most importantly, her superhero.

“Like Darkwing?”

“Huh?” A moment of confusion whittled under humor, and she pressed her tongue against her teeth. “Yeah,” she smiled, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. “Like Darkwing, except, you know, the long winded and obnoxiously descriptive speeches.”

“Come on, Gos, you know you love them,” Dewey teased.

Gosalyn returned to the sofa where they slept, absolutely and loudly. Her fingers grazed her chest where her pain lied dormant. It’d always be there in some way; that couldn’t be avoided.

But the pain wasn’t so close to the surface these days, and for what it was worth, that was an accomplishment.

“Don’t tell them that,” she cocked a hearty grin. “Can’t let him get big headed.”

“You mean any bigger than his head already is?”

She finger gunned him, winked and clicked her teeth. “You’ve got it, kid.” After laughing, she folded her legs and leaned forward, “So, how’d you do it?”

“How I did what?”

Gosalyn shrugged. “Handle not having a mom,” she said, playing with her shoelaces. “Can’t be easy.”

“How did you?”

She frowned, brow knitted together in a downward arrow. “I...I always had my grandpa,” she murmured. “I didn’t need anyone else.”

“I had my uncle and brothers, then a great uncle and a Webby and Mrs. Beakley and so many others before she came back.” He breathed through his nose. “I think if we can love the family we’ve got around us, it makes the loss easier, but that’s just a theory of mine.”

“Nah,” she grinned shakily. Her tongue was thick, and her throat burned. “Your expansion theory is viable, Dewey.”

They rested under a starry night a fissure of pale blue energy phased in and out of existence.


End file.
